The After-Death
by CretianStar
Summary: Boq passes from Oz and he meets someone he never thought he'd set eyes on again.


A/N: I don't know where this came from, maybe listening to the soundtrack on repeat, getting mad at Nessa's song not being released, who knows.

Enjoy this!

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"Where am I?" He felt disoriented, the world around was masked in grey, as though the lights were not on properly, or his sight was failing him.

"Oh good you came to." A voice drawled, a voice that he faintly remembered. Only faintly.

"What's going on?" He blinked rapidly, but nothing changed, the world before him was shaded in gloom and grey.

"Oh get up Boq." Now he knew that voice and he jolted upright from where he had been laying. His eyes now seemed to adjust to the murky surroundings, or maybe the world got a little brighter, because Nessarose was stood before him, appearing from nowhere.

"But you're dead!" He was astounded, he scrambled back from where he sat and stared in a mixture of horror and fascination at the beautiful woman before him.

"Yes, and so are you. Now stop being dramatic, and move." She stepped forward, the gloom lifting as she walked and he saw her clad in black, and barefoot. Boq knew he was staring, but it was short lived, as she walked past him and onwards, the gloom seemed to envelop him once more. He struggled to his feet and stumbled after the faded light that encompassed his old boss. His mind was so busy whirling and whirring over the many revelations, that he didn't notice how quiet his steps were.

"Governor Thropp, stop, wait!" He had managed to get back into her light once more, and she stopped, turned and smirked.

"I'm still Nessa, Boq." This is the after-death, titles mean nothing here." She shrugged and he frowned.

"Stop, explain what's happened."

"You've died, you're here, I found you." She shrugged again, but there was an expression of distaste on her face and he baulked.

"You can walk…"

"And you look positively munchkin again, all four foot nothing of you, all over again." She pointed out and he gasped, clasping his chest and running his hands over his face, feeling skin and hair once more.

"But I died as a tinman!"

"I mean, if you want to be one again, I'm sure the afterdeath will oblige you." She said pointedly and he stilled.

"No, but how."

"As I understand it, the magic that made you a tinman kept you alive. Stopped your heart shrinking any further than it had, the magic that made you metal was a casing, you were the same old Boq inside, still heartless." She said viciously, and she turned with a swish of her skirts and kept walking.

"But how can you walk then?"

"Don't know, don't question it, I like the use of my legs." She lifted her skirts and skipped a few steps to prove a point, but she kept walking.

Despite the many shocks rocketing around in his brain, he managed to catch her up again.

"Is this it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it just the two of us, for however long?"

"Depends." She was infuriating and Boq clenched his fists.

"Where are the others that have died, Elphaba and Fiyero for example?"

Her cold laugh made him stop dead in his tracks, it was scornful and she whirled on him with a dark look in her eyes. He shrank back as she stepped forwards and her expression twisted with fury.

"How dare you." She hissed. "Since when have you gifted the Prince and the Witch with their born names?"

"I… I mean… we were all at school together." His excuse sounded lame, even to him.

""I've watched your crusade Boq, you made sure that my name, and that of my sister's were dragged through the mud, you have blackened the Thropps quite enough." She ground out and her hand waved at the gloom. Lights flickered, and a reel of images lit the murky fog around them. Memories, images, thoughts and words came to life around them, they watched countless depictions of Boq railing and raging against the Witch Sisters, slurring their names, stripping them of humanity, riling up mobs and rewriting history books.

The images vanished as they had appeared and the world fell to darkness once more.

"Where are they?" He repeated, his voice just above a growl as he glared at Nessa's glowing face. "They died years ago, he died because of her."

"You hated Fiyero, for he took your beloved _Galinda _away." She sneered but took a moment of looking him up and down. "Fine, follow me." She sighed and moved off again, to their left this time.

"How do you know the way?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I learnt, it's been a long time since a house was dropped on me." Her answer brooked no reply, but she paused. "I occasionally see Madame Morrible sometimes."

"Madame Morrible? What does she have to do with it?" Boq frowned, Nessa turned to give him a pointed look and he gaped. "She killed you?"

"Stone dead." She shook her head. "Here we are." Nessa had reached the edge of a smoky grey pool, and she peered down into the water. "Yes, just here." Her fingers danced through the mist skating on the top, and the surface rippled. An image formed and the pool stilled, the picture getting clearer.

An elderly green skinned woman sat on a makeshift porch, watching the sun set over the hill beyond her home. Her skin was paler than before, and her once dark locks were more grey than black, but it was definitely Elphaba.

"That means, she's alive?!" Boq gaped. "But Dorothy…."

"But Dorothy nothing… wait for it." She hummed and the image changed only slightly. Something joined Elphaba, sat down next to her with a huff of air and Boq couldn't believe his eyes. That was a face he didn't think he'd see again.

"The scarecrow! Why is he with her! He was there to protect Dorothy from her." He was astounded, and horrified. Nessa said nothing.

"Fiyero darling, we got old."

"Elphie my sweet, we are very old." He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it once.

"I blame the grandchildren." She sighed, closing her eyes and resting back against the chair.

"I blame the children personally." He said lightly and a smile flickered across Elphaba's lips.

"Could be them I'll grant you."

The image faded and Boq was reeling.

Elphaba Thropp was not dead, instead she had had a husband, and children and a happy ending. How did she get a happy ending and he didn't!?

"Because she wasn't a bad person Boq. We were."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer." Boq snarled.

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A/N: I might continue it. Who knows.


End file.
